U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,294 and co-pending application Ser. No. 918,278, both owned by the assignee of this application, disclose interior wall systems of the type used for dividing offices and other interior regions into smaller work areas. These systems include a plurality of prefabricated panels releasably joined together and individually electrically prewired to facilitate the supplying of electrical energy to areas bounded by the wall system. While these known wall systems are highly desirable and have met with substantial commercial success, nevertheless continued development has been carried out in an attempt to further improve upon the usability and flexibility of such systems.
In one recently developed wall system, the individual panels are provided with power blocks adjacent the opposite lower corners thereof, which power blocks each accommodate two flexible electrical connectors for transmitting electrical energy to an adjacent panel. In this system, each power block has a single connector unit disposed on only one side thereof so that a single receptacle unit can be plugged into the power block adjacent only one end of each side of the panel. In another known system, the panel is again provided with a pair of power blocks adjacent the opposite lower corners, and the opposite sides of each power block are provided with a socket or recess for accommodating therein either a single receptacle or a dummy outlet plug.
In both of the latter described wall systems, while each is a four-wire system so as to provide two electrical circuits, nevertheless one circuit is reserved exclusively for lighting-fixtures which are adapted for mounting on the panels adjacent the upper edges thereof, whereby all of the receptacles or outlets as associated with all of the panels in the series are thus connected solely to the other circuit. This thus greatly restricts the flexibility and usability of such wall systems in that most municipal codes only permit a limited number of outlets or receptacles to be series-connected to a single circuit. These known systems have thus required a greater number of power-feed taps for connection to suitable ceiling or floor-mounted power terminals, whereby the flexibility of the overall system is severely impaired. In addition, by limiting all of the outlets to a single circuit, this prevents random or selective distribution of receptacles among different circuits, and hence invariably results in a concentration of heavily used outlets, which results in overloading of the system. These known systems thus have severe limitations as regards use of the wall system and the number of panels which can be connected in series, inasmuch as all receptacles are restricted for connection in series within a single circuit. Similarly, all light-fixtures are restricted for series connection to a second circuit. These wall systems thus provide no decision-making capability or circuit selection at the point of use, thereby not only restricting the use and capabilities of the system, both in terms of the system size (i.e., number of panels) and its proposed use, but also its capability of use and conversion in situations requiring substantially larger numbers of panels and substantially more complex electrical systems and arrangements.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved upright wall or space-divider system formed from a plurality of series-connected electrically-prewired panels, which system overcomes the disadvantages of prior systems by greatly improving the flexibility, usability, capacity and adaptability of the system by providing a plurality of separate electrical circuits, such as three circuits, which extend throughout the system, with individual power-tap units (such as receptacle units) being selectively mounted on the panels at desired use locations and selectively switched for connection to the desired circuit.
Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved wall system of the aforesaid type, and more specifically a system wherein each panel has a pair of power blocks positioned thereon adjacent the opposite corners thereof, with each power block having a pair of connector portions so that the power blocks of adjacent panels can be electrically joined together by a flexible electrical connector which can be joined to either of the opposed pairs of connector portions as associated with the power blocks, and which system includes plug-type connectors for lighting-fixtures and plug-type receptacle units which can be selectively connected to any of the power blocks, the receptacle units and lighting-fixture connectors all having manually movable circuit selecting switch means associated therewith to permit their selective inclusion, at the point of use, within any of the multiple circuits which extend throughout the series-connected panels.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide:
(1) A wall system, as aforesaid, which restores to the electrician the decision-making capability with respect to circuit selection, but involves a system which is already prewired so that the installation and the stringing of wires by the electrician is eliminated, but wherein the electrician is able to perform the circuit-selecting function at each individual point of use by manual displacement of a single switch as located at each power-tap location, such as at each receptacle unit and at each light-fixture plug.
(2) A wall system, as aforesaid, which provides a plurality of separate electrical circuits, preferably at least three, which circuits extend in parallel throughout the length of the wall system so as to both substantially increase the number of panels which can be connected in series and permit the individual receptacle units and light-fixture plugs to be individually connected to any of the selected circuits so that the power-taps for the different circuits can be randomly interwoven and dispersed in an irregular and nonsequential manner to achieve maximum distribution and utilization of the available circuits.
(3) A wall system, as aforesaid, which permits selective on-site placement of receptacle units in a simple and efficient manner, while at the same time providing maximum versatility in that a receptacle unit (involving either a single or a duplex outlet) can be selectively mounted adjacent either end of each panel on either or both sides thereof, with said receptacle unit being easily accessible for mounting on or removal from the power blocks of the individual panels whenever desired.
(4) A wall system, as aforesaid, wherein appropriate indicating devices are associated at all of the switchable power-tap locations, such as associated with the receptacle units and the light-fixture plugs, so as to readily indicate the selected circuit to which the individual power-tap is connected, with the power-taps themselves having suitable locking structure which prevents the switching thereof except when the power-tap is disconnected from the power block.
(5) A wall system, as aforesaid, which provides a greatly improved visual appearance when fully assembled, which provides maximum flexibility and versatility while at the same time utilizing a minimum number of parts, and which provides a greatly enlarged and conveniently accessible communication channel within the lower raceway to permit the passage therethrough of substantially greater numbers of communication cables.
(6) A wall system, as aforesaid, which results in all of the wiring components and communication cables being effectively hidden and enclosed within a raceway which extends along the lower edge of each panel, which raceway appears as an integral portion of the panel and has a width substantially the same as the panel, and which raceway itself extends to the vertical edges of the panel so that both electrical and communication cables can pass between panels in such a manner as to create no visually unattractive appearance.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons familiar with systems of this type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.